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Buy one component and save 10% on up to 2 cables. Buy 2 components and get 4 free cables. Free shipping on USA orders over $700. Low-cost shipping to Canada.
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by Benchmark Media Systems January 04, 2017
The Benchmark DAC3 is the first product to ship with the new ESS Technology ES9028PRO D/A converter chip.
The Benchmark DAC3 is the first product to ship with the new ESS Technology ES9028PRO D/A converter chip.
"It may look like the DAC2 HGC, but the new DAC3 HGC offers a slew of better measurements and more notably, an incremental boost in sound quality."
"Via headphones I definitely could hear more space around the instruments and an increased precision in transients — like cymbals and upper-register piano notes."
"In terms of new functions, the DAC3 switches a lot faster between inputs, and gone is that audibly phasy transition when you initially switch between two digital sources."
"Though audible improvements in DACs these days are mostly subtle, Benchmark delivers a new, audibly superior version over the DAC2, plus added a few ergonomic upgrades, such as faster source switching. It does not look any different, but it certainly sounds different."
" I deployed the DAC3 HGC into my audiophile system, which consisted of MartinLogan Montis speakers, Pass Labs X350.8 amp, and Benchmark’s ultra-quiet AHB2 bipolar output amplifier. I used the DAC3 as a preamp, and as a DAC through my Rogue Audio RP-5 tube preamp. Sources included a TASCAM DA-3000 hi-res player/recorder, an Oppo BDP-105, an ASUS Android tablet with USB Audio Player Pro in the bit perfect mode, connected by USB 2.0; and a Macbook Pro laptop using Audirvana Plus."
"With this new ESS chip that low-end “over warmth” is gone. The Anthony Wilson Trio title cut’s kick drum, and the midbass organ imprint was leaner, tighter and clearer. This allows the articulation of the air around the guitar notes and the cymbals to emerge to a proper balance."
"I immediately noticed the improvement when A/B’ing the DAC3 and the DAC2. And it was confirmed by headphones, as well as line output through the preamp/amp path. I don’t know what ESS did in its new chip, or whether Benchmark tweaked the analog; or it is a combination of the two, but the emerging audio detail was more balanced than the DAC2."
"And that is really the essence of the sonic improvement of the DAC3; the precision and air inherent in good recordings is noticeably improved with the DAC3. All my reference Pop and Jazz ensemble, piano recordings, acoustic guitar and nylon classical guitar recordings sound more dimensional and alive."
"By the way, one other area of improvement for the DAC3 is its switching speed from one digital source to another... It was always hard to accurately discern real differences when A/B listening through the DACs because the new sources always sounded different than the previous source. With the DAC3’s super fast PLL and switching relays, the DAC3 is pretty much an A/B switch."
"As with the original DAC1 and DAC2, Benchmark proves it can take advantage of the latest DAC chip technology and notch up the performance of its latest version D/A, the DAC3."
"Though audible improvements in DACs these days are mostly subtle, Benchmark delivers a new, audibly superior version over the DAC2, plus added a few ergonomic upgrades, such as faster source switching. It does not look any different, but it certainly sounds different."
"Although it came out late in the year, the DAC3 was worth waiting for, and it receives the EAN Stellar Sound Award and a last-minute slide into the Everything Audio Network Product-of-The-Year Award in the DAC category."
- John Gatski, Publisher, Everything Audio Network
by Benchmark Media Systems June 02, 2025
"Geoff Pesche weighs in on how the mastering team at Abbey Road Studios achieve first-class results." - Mix with the Masters
"The biggest sonic improvement in mastering in the last 5 or 6 years is D/A and A/D converters and that's very very important - what you have at the front and the back of the chain."
"We use fairly new Benchmark converters front and back."
"Abbey Road like a uniformity between the rooms so all of the rooms have the same A/D and D/A conversion."
- Geoff Pesche, Mastering Engineer, Abbey Road Studios
by Benchmark Media Systems May 13, 2025
"Benchmark Media Systems’ no-nonsense approach to all things audio is rare today."
"This is a DAC that’s uniformly good at everything. It resolves well, has good imaging properties."
"It makes a balanced, honest sound that allows you to sit and listen to music for hours. That is what makes Benchmark’s products consistently popular with audio engineers. You don’t want ‘bright’ if you sit at a mixing desk 10 hours a day. "
"It also has the latest version of Benchmark’s jitter attenuation system (UltraLock3) and doubles down on the digital demon with its multi-mode asynchronous USB system."
"Benchmark also uses the distortion compensation facilities built into the ESS chip to reduce second and third order distortion."
"The net result is a DAC that delivers lower distortion, lower noise, less passband ripple, faster signal switching and locking onto signals and a more linear frequency response."
"The Benchmark Media Systems DAC3 B is very much in the ‘leave no trace’ school of good audio."
- Alan Sircom, hi-fi+
by Benchmark Media Systems December 01, 2024
"There was some debate about whether anybody can hear the differences above a good Chi-Fi DAC like the Topping D90. Unless you are missing most of your high-frequency hearing, you can hear where a high-end DAC makes a difference."
The Bricasti M3 is a great example of that performance in a $6,000 DAC."
"The Benchmark DAC3 B is an audiophile DAC, with pro audio roots, that punches way above its weight."